Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 13.6 x 10.1 inches)

This is one of the first modern maps of the whole continent. The Ptolemaic geography, with large rivers and convoluted mountains, is augmented from Portuguese and Arabic sources. From the Portuguese comes Caput Bonespei (Cape of Good Hope) and a small group of islands off the eastern coast named Zaphala Aurifodina that were supposedly the region from which King Solomon imported ...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 6.3 x 5 inches)

Strongly engraved woodblock map of the continent depicts the Nile's origins in twin lakes originating in the Motes Lunae, or Mountains of the Moon, based on Ptolemy's account of the region. It excludes the Horn of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, but many kingdoms of central and north Africa are shown. On a sheet (8 x 12.3") of Latin text with a woodcut volcano at top and a charming depic...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 10.75 x 7.75 inches)

Small copper engraved map that includes the Canary and Cape Verde Islands as well as Madagascar. The Nile originates from twin lakes below the Equator, near the Monts de la Lune. Very good detail with many towns, villages, rivers, etc. in the interior and soundings and shoals. Engraved by A. d'Winter.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 0 x 0 inches)

Sharply engraved lot of maps, views and botanicals of Africa from Prevost's massive history of exploration. Most of the maps are by Jacques Nicolas Bellin, decorated with compass roses and ornamental cartouches. The lot includes a xerox copy of the title page.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 12.5 x 10.8 inches)

Handsome map of the continent with the title in a simple block-style cartouche. Filled with interesting and fairly accurate cartography based on Delisle. The Nile is shown according to Paez and inland from Zanzibar lies a long lake Maravi (Malawi). The Hottentottens occupy the southern tip.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 12.5 x 8.2 inches)

An interesting map of the continent with an interior that is mostly blank with some information beginning to take shape. Lake Chad is noted as Chana, and Lake Malawi (Maravi) is named in South Africa. The currents in the surrounding ocean are indicated, and the map is titled with ornate script within a block-style cartouche.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 0 x 0 inches)

Peak Teneriffe and St. Helena are expertly rendered views of the African coast with scenes of ships and longboats navigating rough seas. Dramatic mountains and skies make up the background. A. Fullarton & Co., London and Edinburgh, 1871, B/W. (6x 3.8"). Grade A. A View of the City & Port of Alexandria & Isle of Pharos is an uncolored copper plate engraving showing numerou...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 17 x 11.3 inches)

This decorative 19th century map of the continent is colored to show the colonial possessions and major tribal kingdoms. The interior is mostly void of detail, with the exception of the mythical Monts de la Lune, or Mountains of the Moon in the center of the continent. These legendary mountains were long thought to be the source for the Nile, dating back to Ptolemy. Stanley traced a fluv...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 0 x 0 inches)

1) Map of Africa from the Latest Authorities is one of the more attractive 19th century maps of the continent with a legend identifying colonial possessions. At bottom left is a large inset of the Republic of Liberia, reflecting the American influence there and the efforts of the American Colonization Society to repatriate freed Negroes to Africa. Liberia was founded in 1847 with it's gov...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 29.5 x 21.5 inches)

A large, and beautifully engraved steel-plate map of the continent includes the Arabian Peninsula, a portion of Asia Minor, and the Canary and Seychelles Islands. This highly detailed example shows partially developed topography with presumed courses of rivers, and large, unexplored areas left blank. Other interesting details include desert trade routes and the Montagnes de la Lune, or the Mo...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 9 x 12.5 inches)

This is Ortelius' two map sheet of modern Egypt and Tunis. The sheet has been trimmed, removing the third map on the engraved plate, Natoliae. Alexandria, Cairo, the Pyramids and the Carthage aqueducts appear on the two maps. The map of Carthage also features a variety of ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 20.5 x 13.8 inches)

This decorative map of the whole of North Africa covers from Morocco to the Nile delta, with considerable spurious detail in the interior. The land is filled with all kinds of charming detail, including a pair of fanciful dragons, elephants, ostriches, antelopes and monkeys. An interesting little barge lies at the mouth of the Nile. The map is further embellished with decorative title and scale o...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 20 x 13 inches)

An attractive map covering northern Africa from Tripoli to Egypt and the Red Sea. The topography is rather sketchy with mountain ranges and oases noted prominently. The map is adorned with a pyramid-flanked cartouche.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 19.2 x 14.3 inches)

This is a most unusual and interesting map with an odd orientation; the northern coastline is shown top to bottom on the left side of the map, with the coast of Egypt and the course of the Nile shown on the right side with north oriented to top. Dividing the two maps is a very large title cartouche, with two odd-looking European surveyors, the coat of arms of the Duke of Gloucester, a lion, a cro...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 10.8 x 6.5 inches)

Lovely map covering eastern Libya and Egypt. There is good detail along the Nile and several oases are shown with pictorial representations of topography and towns. Engraved by A. d'Winter for an uncommon Dutch edition.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 0 x 0 inches)

An attractive trio of 18th century maps detailing the coastal area of ancient North Africa.

1) Aegyptus Inferior sive Delta is a sharply engraved map of ancient Egypt covering the Nile Delta region. Major cities are shown with an extensive network of roads and the pyramids are prominent. The title cartouche incorporates several Egyptian coins. The map is by Christopher Weigel...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 7.4 x 5.7 inches)

A very attractive small map of Morocco decorated with two strapwork cartouches and flourishing calligraphy. Mountains, cities and forests fill the land. The capital city of Marruecos (Marrakech) is prominently shown. German text on verso

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 8.5 x 12.5 inches)

An attractive map of the northwest coast of Africa including Madeira, the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, as well as Morocco and the Strait of Gibraltar, and extending to Biafra. The title is contained at top in a graceful cartouche draped with garland, and a decorative scale of miles balances the bottom of the map.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 15.2 x 9.2 inches)

An outstanding 16th century woodblock city plan of Cairo with amazing detail of the buildings, gardens, temples, palaces, farms, and markets. The Nile is shown with fishing boats, irrigation systems and even crocodiles. The pyramids are also depicted. Title is printed on verso.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 8.5 x 5 inches)

This strongly engraved map details the Mediterranean coast from the Red Sea to Libya and south to Garama. There is good detail along the Nile River valley, but only scattered placenames in the interior. The very decorative title cartouche features a trio of pyramids.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 14.3 x 9.7 inches)

Lovely map of the Nile delta based on the Ptolemaic model. Mercator originally published this map in his 1578 edition of Ptolemy's great Geography. Although he is most renowned today for the projection he popularized and for first using the term Atlas for a collection of maps, he devoted much of his life to his Ptolemaic maps. The maps were beautifully engraved as nearly as possible to t...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 21 x 19 inches)

This interesting map of Egypt is based on the earlier map of the region by Robert de Vaugondy, per the title. It is inset with an unusual representation of the harbor of Alexandria at top right, surrounded by depictions of important structures. The lower right has illustrations of three obelisks with the hieroglyphics clearly delineated.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 11.7 x 7.2 inches)

Two maps on one sheet covering the eastern part of Africa. On the left is a map of Mozambique and Tanzania, and on the right is a larger map of Somalia and Ethiopia including the Red Sea and western Saudi Arabia. The map provides a good amount of information, particularly on the major trading cities. From a Dutch edition of Sanson's pocket atlas.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 19 x 26 inches)

A handsome sea chart draws the coastline of East Africa from Kenya near Pate Island past Tanzania to Mozambique, including Cape Delgado and ending around Mocambique. A portion of Madagascar peeks into the bottom right; the islands of Zanzibar, Comoros, Mayotte, Moheli, and Anjouan are shown.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 7.25 x 5.75 inches)

A beautiful small map of the west coast of Africa covering the coast from Sierra Leone to Gabon with a large decorative inset of I. S. Thomae. Further embellished with a sea monster and strapwork title cartouche. English text on verso.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 21.8 x 25.2 inches)

Superb sea chart of the west coast of Africa from one of the most important Dutch sea-atlases. The Zee Atlas is one of the largest format sea-atlases published in Amsterdam during the period, and also one of the scarcest. A handsome chart with two compass roses and rhumb lines providing excellent detail of the coastline.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 22.8 x 20 inches)

This sea chart of the west coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Three Points, Ghana, includes Liberia and the Ivory Coast. The map is superbly adorned with sailing ships, compass roses and the cartouches are surrounded by natives with elephants, ivory, and a lone European.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 22 x 18 inches)

This remarkable map is one of the most detailed maps of West Africa produced during the mid-eighteenth century. Information is confined only to those regions that were well known and it is particularly well delineated along the Niger River and the coast where there are extensive notations. The map is embellished with a large vignette of a native village with the distance scales engraved onto ele...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 7 x 5.4 inches)

Charming little map with a fair amount of detail along the Horn of Africa, reflecting Colonial trading interests. The Ptolemaic sources for the Nile are shown in the twin lakes of Zaire and Zaflan below the Equator. The map is decorated with a strapwork title and scale cartouche incorporated together. Latin text on verso.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 8.3 x 11.6 inches)

An attractive map focused on the fictitious Ptolemaic twin lakes of Zaire and Zaflan that were purported to be the source of the Nile, located at the foot of the mythical Lunae Montes, or Mountains of the Moon, often identified as the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda. The map is filled with fictitious place names and topography, all meticulously detailed and engraved by Antoine de Winter for ...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 15 x 9.2 inches)

An unusual sheet with 3 maps detailing the course of the Senegal River and the island of Saint-Louis that is located within it. The large map on top is inset with a map of the Country about Fort St. Joseph in Galam. Based on a map by D'Anville and engraved by G. Child.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 19.5 x 15 inches)

This handsome map formed the standard for the depiction of South Africa throughout the 17th century, covering the region from Congo-Zanzibar to the Cape. Blaeu based the map on Portuguese exploration and most detail is confined to the coastlines. There are two large lakes in the interior, one unnamed and the other called Zachef, which is the lake out of which the Zambere (Zambesi ...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 14 x 11 inches)

A striking map of the Cape of Good Hope showing an inventive inset of Table Bay at the lower left. The interior of the map is filled with elephants, a rhinoceros, lion, ostriches and snakes to name a few. A road stretches from Table Bay to the interior. A dotted line between Table Bay and False Bay represents a proposed canal that was not undertaken, and a notation of Uytegedeelt lant (di...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 23.8 x 18.6 inches)

This meticulously detailed map is emblematic of all Delisle's works, distinguished by his scientific approach to cartography. His work was the basis of most African maps made in the 18th century. The map is filled with information concerning European trade, native kingdoms, and mineral wealth. It covers Africa south of the Equator and includes Madagascar and several islands in the Indian Ocean....

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 12.5 x 8.3 inches)

A crisply engraved map of the southern coast of Africa, including the island of Madagascar, and focused on the channel between the island and the coast. The map is inset with a closer view of the coastline from St. Helena top the Cape of Good Hope. The map is decorated with a pair of garlanded cartouches.

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 12.5 x 8.4 inches)

1) Cartes Particulieres des Isles de France, de Bourbon et de Rodrigue, Bonne, 1775 (12.5" x 8.4") uncolored, from Atlas de toutes les parties connues du globe terrestre. A general chart with trade winds noted, plus 3 well-engraved insets with good detail of the islands of Reunion, Mauritius and Rodrigue. An erupting volcano is shown on Bourbon, now known as Reunion. Good impressi...

Archived Auction. Click on the Title for details on this lot.
(Size: 19 x 12.8 inches)

Uncommon sea chart of the strategically important Rodrigues Island, located east of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Inset at left is "A Particular Plan of the Northern Part of Madagascar from Insandria to Cape Ambro." Published by Sayer and Bennett.